Season 5, Episode 14 Thoughts and Review · 4:07am Sep 13th, 2015
Yoooo, you know what time it is~
I'm not gonna lie, I was a bit apprehensive about this episode since it's the first of an apparent Rarity arc, and I always worry about character arcs for lots of different reasons. But, when I watched it, this ended up being my reaction:
He is my spirit animal, this pony.
I found out that not only was I completely engaged and loving the story, I actually found myself tearing up at different parts. And hating Sassy Saddles a bit. OK, a lot, actually.
The episode begins with Rarity eagerly expecting a letter to arrive in the mail. Pinkie Pie visits to offer Rarity a "strawberry cinnamon cilantro cupcake" and deliver her letter, as the mailpony came down with indigestion after sampling Pinkie's treats. Rarity opens the letter, and she is overjoyed to learn that some real estate has become available in Canterlot so she can finally realize her dream of opening a boutique there. Pinkie briefly shares in Rarity's excitement before she also comes down with cupcake indigestion.
This has got to be the fourth time this season that Pinkie's eaten something she regrets.
And... Guys, I honestly can't tell you how happy it made me to see Rarity getting that shop she wanted. Faust always had in mind what the Mane Six were going to end up doing and that was one of them, along with Twilight being Celestia's successor and Dash becoming a Wonderbolt. It just... Makes me really happy to know that Rarity got what she wanted in the end of it all.
Moving on to the rest of the episode, the Mane Six and Spike visit Rarity's new boutique, named Canterlot Carousel, and they are very impressed with what Rarity's managed to do. Rarity introduces the ponies to her new manager Sassy Saddles, who was responsible for putting together the boutique's grand opening.
So pretty I can almost forget how awful she acted in this episode.
Sassy has a multi-point plan to bring Canterlot Carousel much business and success, starting with a line of dresses themed after the royal princesses. Already at this point, Sassy shows that she wants to take control of what's going on, and it shows on the Mane Six's faces that they noticed it, too.
AJ and Dash are such great friends, it's awesome.
Nevertheless, Twilight agrees to model the centerpiece dress during the grand opening so she can help out Rarity.
When the doors of Canterlot Carousel are finally open to the public, Sassy Saddles "unexpectedly" takes charge of the event. Though Rarity is momentarily shoved out of the spotlight, she manages to show off her new collection, which are freaking AWESOME, might I add. She shows them to the magazine photographer for Cosmare magazine, but all of her creations are brushed under the rug by Sassy, save for the dress Twilight models in. Rarity dubs the dress "Reign in Stain," but Sassy advertises it as the "Princess Dress," much to Rarity's annoyance.
Glad to see Twilight acting dorky as a model. Makes me smile.
After the opening, Rarity lightly confronts Sassy for stealing the spotlight at her own event, especially after Sassy takes one hundred orders for the Princess Dress. However, not wanting to disappoint her customers, Rarity vows to provide dresses to everyone in accordance with her "rules of Rarity."
This song was the best and saddest part of this episode. I almost cried because of it.
The Princess Dress becomes an instant success among Canterlot mares. Unfortunately, Rarity—who prides herself on making each of her dresses unique—soon becomes disheartened at making the same dress over and over.
This is inspiration in the workings, dear readers.
Let me stop right there for a moment, OK? That scene. That scene right there. I almost bawled at that, OK? Rarity wanted to make each and every one of her dresses, to quote her tagline, "Chic, unique, and magnifique," but she couldn't because everyone wanted the same exact thing, making her products feel cheap and unoriginal. Remember how Rarity reacted back in "Suited for Succes" when she made dresses for her friends and how Hoity Toity wanted multiples of each dress? At first I thought it was because she had been working so hard before, but now this episode shines a light on how she dislikes making copies of the same dress that she intended to be unique.
This is a perfect representation of what it feels like for someone to enjoy something you created. Look at Rarity's smile. Look at it.
Rarity is briefly inspired to make a Princess Dress with a different array of gemstones, but one of her customers dismisses it because it isn't precisely what she ordered. Which, to be honest, Rarity shouldn't have tried to change up what she ordered and perhaps should have just shown her the variation so that way the customer could make the decision herself. Dejected even further, Rarity continues making Princess Dresses as before, sacrificing her "rules of Rarity" and creativity.
The rules of Rarity
Once stood for something
But now it feels just like some factory
Now every dress I make
With every flaw and mistake
Oh, how it makes my heart
My heart just break
As soon as Rarity completes two hundred Princess Dress orders, Sassy Saddles enters with a hundred more. Despite the success of Canterlot Carousel, Rarity is miserable.
"I'm the Cosmare cover pony... I have the most successful shop in Canterlot... I've gotten everything I ever wanted... but I'm miserable!"
- the exact moment my heart broke into a bajillion pieces
Sassy is too caught up in the fame of the boutique, even briefly taking credit for the whole boutique by calling it her own. Rarity finally puts her hoof down, saying if this is what success in Canterlot looks like, she wants no part of it. She also declares that she is closing Canterlot Carousel and demands that Sassy make flyers for a going-out-of-business sale, to which Sassy protests, but Rarity ignores her.
Sassy deserved to be yelled at. Bitch.
Rarity gets rid of the Princess Dresses and puts the other dresses she made on display, greeting them with a smile and lamenting on how she hid them away. Sassy stays in the back and doesn't even bother to get up to greet the customers, but it doesn't deter Rarity from her task. When the sale begins, she shows the mares that enter what other things she has to offer and they are surprisingly ecstatic with what they see.
...I think I ship her with Maud.
And her. I ship her with both of them. I'm a multi-shipper.
Their names are Hot Topic and Pac Sun, and no one can stop me.
After seeing what the customers think of her dresses and seeing how much they love her original designs, decides not to close the boutique and to keep her dream going. I'm not crying, you're crying.
When you compare these two parts, it makes you realize how much happier Rarity is.
Finally realizing what the "rules of Rarity" mean, Sassy apologizes to Rarity and prepares to leave. But Rarity allows Sassy to continue managing Canterlot Carousel, having always intended to remain in Ponyville. Sassy thanks Rarity and promises to run the boutique according to her rules. More than she deserves in my opinion...
And then, the best thing from the episode happens:
WHO DESIGNED THIS PONY. WHO.
Putting that aside, dear readers, this episode is just so important to me. This is a perfect representation of what it's like to have something you want to be original and amazing made into cheap commercialization and fodder for the masses. As a writer, I like to come up with story ideas and do my own take on certain things, but it's so hard when fans come to me and tell me what they want me to do; which, is something I or someone else has already done.
Back when I was writing SombraPie, like, everyday, I felt so happy to be doing things for the ship and providing new things. But, when I wrote over twenty stories for it and was opening up to new ideas, people came up to me asking for SombraPie when I had nothing to offer that wasn't already done or that I felt like was good enough for them. People wanted me to contribute something when that something didn't have my heart or my soul in it whatsoever, and when I refused, they lashed out at me.
"We're your readers, so we should get new stuff for it!"
I didn't want to disappoint you guys, so I tried to write for it, but it wasn't any good to me. I just wanted to get it done and to feed off the pirahnas for the time being so I could work on other projects. But, everytime I gave them something, people jumped up and begged for more, demanding satisfaction for something I couldn't give them.
It was tiring and heartbreaking, thinking no one wanted to see what I had to offer other than what I had already done. When I began to write for different characters and genres, I hid them away so no one would see them and I didn't offer out any of my ideas because of previous experience. I almost left the site once because I felt like I wasn't offering anything anymore.
Then, I finally broke out and released my first story that didn't have to do with SombraPie, which was "First Date". I almost cried when I saw how much people loved it. Sure, there were some who kept asking where my SombraPie was and telling me that I needed to stop wasting my time with other stories, but those didn't matter. People were so happy to jump on board and I got new followers because of it.
This is why it's so important to remember what writers want to do are capable of doing. Maybe what they want to do isn't the best thing or of your interests, but it's something they want to do. Respect the individuality of writers and artists, because the things that they do are incredible.
Moving on from the sad and deep stuff from this episode, here's another relatable thing from this episode:
THIS IS HONESTLY SOMETHING EVERYONE HAS DONE, I SWEAR TO GOD.
What were your thoughts on this episode? And what are we to expect next week?
Season 5, Episode 15: Rarity Investigates!
Rainbow Dash finds herself in some trouble when she is accused of a crime, and swears she is not responsible for what happened, and it's up to Rarity to investigate the crime and prove that her friend is innocent of the charges.
Oh, for heaven's sake, what did Dash do now? I know that's not a good attitude to have, but judging from episodes past, I feel like Dash might end up doing something real stupid next week.
Hot Topic and Pac Sun?
According to Amy Keating, they were supposed to be sisters, but whatevs. I didn't think Sassy was that bad in this episode. Sure, she was a control freak and a little too obsessed with making the business successful, but when she said she couldn't bare to be a part of another failed boutique, I sympathized with her. Plus she apologized in the end, so I can forgive her.
I'm a bit of an obsessive control freak and I hate to be part of things that don't succeedThere was an episode of Daria called "Art Burn" that was much along the same lines. I thoroughly enjoyed it from a fresh and different perspective. Let's face it. Everything is better with ponies.
I understand the burn out that come from obscene amounts of repetition that can destroy a passion. Like a massage therapist who has to give the exact same massage all day everyday after going through school with dreams of being able to affect real change in people's lives and health, or a dancer that has to repeat the same routine day in and day out.
Yeah, I'll admit I haven't read your non Sombra/Pie stuff, but I only discovered it and you about a week ago. I also started my Sombra/Pie fic before reading this.
You owe your readers nothing. We owe you love, loyalty, gratitude, and patience. You create, and we consume.
You've created and fleshed out a beautiful AU. I would rather you never write another Sombra/Pie centered fic if doing so meant you wound up pumping out a piece lacking soul and inspiration, produced because you felt you had to for the sake of your fans. (you know, like what's sadly going on with the Simpsons)
Do your thing, whatever that is at the moment, and be you.
I thought they started off the back half of the season pretty well. I really enjoyed this episode. I was throwing my cereal at the screen telling Rarity to fire Sassy, but I guess things worked out in the end.
40.media.tumblr.com/48173fbc231ed214c8f6f7a16a626d06/tumblr_nukwggTW5M1uqgzrgo2_500.png
America in a nutshell.
As for the next episode, I have a good idea of what's going down...
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This episode's already been made! And it's a glorious 8 hour episode! Take that!
hot topic sound like a good name but I like Moonlight Raven more
To be fair, Sassy does have a motive to be more controlling of the business which is the fact she has seen so many other boutiques go out of business. While I'm not gonna side with the way she handled it, she was trying to play the game safe and had good intentions, but played it too safe. I can't really put together my own words for this so I'm gonna quote from somebody else who has a better insight on Sassy's mindset.
Overall the episode was fairly average for me. Not exactly worth for 2 months of waiting but I'll take what I can get. Not going to be too much a bother about it.
Definitely an interesting first episode in an arch of episodes meant to be centered around one pony. Maybe we'll see more of it in the future, if that's what everyone wants, and we'll see what the devs do for season 6.
3389296 I saw what you did there!
Yeah, this episode really hit home on what it's like on the creative end. My own heart broke when I saw how she had to keep doing the same dress over and over, long after her love for the dress she created had left. That's truly the worst part for me, she stopped loving the very thing she created.
However, while I started out being suspicious and hating Sassy I soon realized where she was coming from. Sassy has no idea what it's like on the creative end of business. She had a good business plan, but she focused solely on that one thing, which in the long run would have caused the business to fail. I think in the end, when she saw how much the ponies loved Rarity's other dresses, she realized that she was wrong. That all of Rarity's designs were good.
Also, I got the feeling that Sassy had used this plan before, which lead to the other shops going out of business. But that's just my thoughts.
Hot Topic and Pac Sun? Sister's? HEADCANNON ACCEPTED!!!
I really enjoy this episode, though I worry for other characters who need more development whereas Rarity already has a bunch. (Mainly Fluttershy, though she isn't my fav member of the mane 6, I'd still like to know more about her.) I mean, three episodes for a character? I know Rarity is a fan favorite, but doesn't that seem like a bit much? And in a row?
Though I still liked the episode, I thought that the background ponies particularly shined this episode with the Raven pony, the fabulous reporter, and of course the mare that appeared at the end. (Good god Harmony, you should've seen the stream chat explode when she showed up!
)
All in all, it was a good episode. (Can't wait to see a Fluttershy or Applejack episode though.)
3390541
I could spend FOREVER talking about how Fluttershy should have more character development that doesn't have to do with her being shy, but in the end, it makes sense about why that's a go-to prompt for her. She's not just shy; she's introverted and has social anxiety about a lot of things due to her experiences in the past. She literally can't help how she acts in public and sometimes, anxiety can make people forget their progress and fall backwards on what they've learned. I do, however, appreciate how she's shown her assertiveness in recent episodes. I remember in "Testing, Testing, 1 2 3", she managed to stop Twi and Dash from fighting so much without being nasty about it.
As for AJ, I swear to goodness, I will throw a fit if we get another episode with her struggling with Honesty. The writers like to put the girls in Element Boxes, so to speak, and they completely disregard other aspects of their character that they could talk about. I feel like an interesting episode wouldn't be about AJ's honesty, but rather about her dependability and loyalty. Maybe there could be an episode where she struggles to choose sides between her friends and her family?
3390648 Oh man, that'd be an awesome episode. I'd love to see an episode in which she struggles with some aspect of loyalty or the like, it'd be awesome for her character. I'm hoping that whatever happens in that episode with the mare in the apple stage is a big episode for AJ, I can't wait to see what it's all about.
Is it me or is Sassy Sandals a gen 3 design. Also...
Darn, 3389143 beat me to it!
3390761
I'm assuming that the mare is related to her, judging by the decor of the stage, and I think she didn't get her talent because she was so scared that her family would reject her for it. AJ, who has already expressed that AB's talent would never change her love for her, then teaches her that maybe her family shouldn't be so controlling about what she should do and then, bam, that awesome song happens and there's a lesson about how your family isn't always right.
I need that episode like ASAP, to be honest.
Readers, by nature, are hungry animals - we will beg and want for more of your genius if we've deemed you worthy of our attention. Whenever I see a comment that tells the author they're wasting their time with another story or berating them for the next chapter (general crap-giving, etc), I usually look at it as if it's a genial prod (though I admit some people are just nasty and that's their own loss). Inspiration comes and goes, is fickle and occasionally unkind, cannot be tamed by force. Personally, I'd rather wait months for a well-written chapter than biweekly for some uninspired set of words hacked up on command to appease semi-illiterate brutes.
Ahem, onto the episode... Yay for Rarity!
Sassy was a strange character - I wanted to hate her (and for a few minutes I did) but by the end of it, it honestly implied she was trying her best and being aggressive... but mostly because she didn't know another way.
The first time she cowered back and tucked her ears, I thought she was just some cloying, manipulative citymare, yet when she saw how the other ponies reacted to Rarity's other designs and begging for her job, she made me think of a recently-graduated business student. The one who thinks she knows everything. And there's only one way to do things: the right way.
Her turn-around was a little quick for me, I'd've liked to see her face a few times while the other mares ogled the dresses - to see her see what Rarity means. Instead she just runs up and admits she was wrong. I'm kind of hoping we see her again and she's fallen partially into those terrible, slave-driving ways.
Oh, and now I need to see Coco Pommel as a background pony, maybe running across Canterlot into a hotel while carrying saddlebags filled with cloths.